


red skies

by kaminoko_x



Series: horizons [1]
Category: Alex Rider - Anthony Horowitz
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Criminals being criminals, Date Rape Drug/Roofies, Fic of Fic, Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture, Pack Dynamics, and also one moment someone assumes underage sex is happening but it's not, and it's handled as consensually as it can be, but they're not used on any main characters, one moment someone is scared of rape but it's like 1 second and it doesn't happen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-26 14:57:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20932118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaminoko_x/pseuds/kaminoko_x
Summary: 5 moments with Alex and his pack.Set in the world of The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by pongnosis. This is fic of fic and does not make sense without it.





	red skies

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10222295) by [pongnosis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pongnosis/pseuds/pongnosis). 

> This is an ABO AU of DDBS. To be completely honest, I binge read DDBS and then I binge wrote this, so I might have gotten a few details wrong in the rush, sorry

Three months into his stay in Russia, Yassen says, apropos of nothing, “My heat is coming up.”

“Oh,” Alex says. He’s kind of surprised Yassen is an omega, to be honest. Yassen seems like a beta on the surface, all calm and control. “Do you have plans?”

“I’ll let it run its course. Suppressants are best saved for missions,” Yassen says, “It is better for long term health and suppressant efficacy.”

“Do you want me to stay out for the day?” Alex clarifies.

“No. Stay in the house. You have the day off. I will be in my room for at least 12 hours,” Yassen says and Alex nods.

Yassen’s heat comes a couple days later, and his room door stays closed. Alex relaxes and practices his Russian by reading one of Yassen’s fiction books. Everything is fine until he decides to get a midnight snack.

Yassen is in the kitchen.

Alex freezes, but Yassen’s already seen him. He takes a step towards Alex, every line of his body graceful threat.

_ Don’t run_. Alex thinks of all his school classes on accidentally invading an omega’s territory. _ Back away slowly. Do not run. _

He takes a careful step back. Yassen takes two forward and keeps coming all the way until he’s standing within arms distance of Alex. This close, Alex can see his pupils are dilated wide, blue irises only a thin ring. He takes another step back.

Yassen lunges for him, pinning him by the throat against the wall. Alex grunts, doing his best to stay still, while Yassen kind of… sniffs at him? Alex wants to laugh at how puzzled he looks.

The pressure on his neck eases, and Alex wheezes a bit, but Yassen doesn’t give him any time to recover. He hauls Alex by the back of the neck down the hall, through his door, and tosses him onto the bed. Alex lands face first and immediately flips, trying to scramble to his feet, but Yassen is on him in a split second, pinning him down on his back in what has to be his nest.

No, no, no, he did not sign up for this, Yassen never showed this kind of interest in him. Alex bucks and struggles, but Yassen is stronger and heavier, and heat gives him a boost of strength that means he doesn’t even need to go for a more efficient hold.

“Yassen, please,” Alex tries, knowing the chances of Yassen even understanding him are slim, “C’mon, please, I haven’t even presented, I’m not, I’m not-”

Alex cringes back as Yassen leans in and… nuzzles him?

Then Yassen basically collapses on him, and Alex is back to wheezing, crushed by his body weight. Yassen noses behind his ear, rubbing their cheeks together - he’s scenting him. Alex stops struggling. No one’s really ever scented him this thoroughly except maybe Jack on a nesting rut. Nesting. Yassen is _ nesting _ him. Wow, okay.

“I kind of can’t breathe,” Alex says, tugging at where Yassen has his wrists pinned to the bed, “Can you roll over, please? Yassen?”

He gets a grunt, but Yassen does roll over. He gets tugged on top of Yassen this time, and thank you, sweet air.

_ Okay, nesting, _ Alex thinks, _ It’s been a while, but I can do that. I know Jack likes to cuddle, maybe he’ll like the same? _

Alex scoots down to rub his face at the base of Yassen’s neck, and then settles himself to Yassen’s side with his head pillowed on Yassen’s shoulder.

“I’m going to take a nap now,” he announces, reaching for a blanket from the side of the nest. Yassen grabs it for him and tosses it over both of them, tucking the edge up to Alex’s neck. Alex feels fingers card through his hair soothingly, pulling it up and smoothing it down. Occasionally, they wander down to massage at his neck. Alex can feel his muscles unlock and melt and _ oooh, that feels nice. _

He’s out like a light.

-

Yassen wakes up warm. Memory floods back to him as he blinks.

He flips the top of the blanket down to reveal Alex curled into his side, then slides out of bed, careful not to wake his sleeping student. Yassen pauses at the door. Something doesn’t feel quite right. He’s not tired, but some part of him still feels a little sleepy, all safe and warm and -

No, that’s actually _ ::sleepy::warm::safe:: _ wrapped up in threads of perfect trust. It feels small and young and precious.

That’s Alex. That’s a pack bond.

At his _ ::surprise::alarm::_, Alex stirs. In a nearly perfect mirror of how Yassen’s morning has gone so far, he yawns, pulls himself upright, and freezes. Yassen can feel him tugging curiously at their new bond. Alex swings his head to look at him, deer in the headlights.

“... Do I have to call you dad now,” Alex asks warily.

“No,” Yassen says. Alex looks immensely relieved.

* * *

At the injection, Alex goes totally limp. Yassen lowers him to the floor, sits cross legged by his head, and checks Alex’s eyes.

“He’s out,” Yassen confirms.

“Excellent!” Dr. Three says, “Let’s begin.”

Yassen has assisted Dr. Three a few times, so he is familiar with Dr. Three’s general resistance to interrogation process. Through all of the drugged testing, Alex is completely calm. Dr. Three seems delighted that he appears so obedient. Yassen suspects Alex’s hold on their bond might have something to do with it. Alex isn’t quite pulling it, but Yassen can feel him subconsciously focusing on it to near exclusion. His packmate is calm, so Alex is calm.

And then the drug wears off and they move on with the rest of RTI. It’s more difficult than any torture session Yassen has ever conducted.

Every time he puts Alex underwater, his pack bond screams at him. Pain doesn’t scare Alex as much, so he doesn’t tend to project, but with water, Alex is loud. He frantically radiates _ ::panic::fear::helphelphelp:: _ down the bond, and instinctively grabs at Yassen, the nearest and only pack member he has.

Yassen doesn’t reprimand him for it. It’s instinct, and there is no reason to confirm what Dr. Three probably already suspects of their relationship. Yassen can only continue to demonstrate that he can and will do what is necessary.

Miles away, Jack curls up in her bed and hurts. Eight months, and Alex has been fine, but now she can feel the distant _ ::scared::hurt::begging::_. She cancelled dinner with her parents, saying she’s having horrible period cramps. She’s tried distracting herself, but Netflix only goes so far.

Jack has never told anyone about her most recent pack bond, and she is pretty sure no one even suspects. She’d be much more of a target otherwise, and MI6 and the CIA would try to use her to actively track Alex instead of having her sit around as bait. In fact, she’s pretty sure Alex doesn’t even know. If he had, the night he left would have gone much differently.

Jack doesn’t sleep. She’ll only dream of someone she can’t save.

* * *

Yassen and Alex are overseeing a SCORPIA project together, and it’s fine. Everything goes to plan, and Alex doesn’t have to kill anyone. He barely even feels guilty about the kills Sagitta accrues under his orders - it's hard to feel bad about breaking up a child prostitution ring.

Alex is stitching up a knife wound on Shale’s shoulder under Adams’ watchful eye. He almost drops the needle when Yassen gets into range. The pulse of _ ::smothered fury::irritation:: _ is distinctive and loud, everything Yassen typically isn’t. It’s odd, especially since Danube had reported their side of the mission a success with minimal casualties. Sure enough, half an hour later Danube and Yassen stomp back into the safehouse looking pissed.

“What happened?” he asks.

“No injuries, but some of the staff had access to heat and rut inducers, the fuckers,” Mace sneers, and Alex agrees. Those are pretty much equivalent of date-rape drugs. Good riddance. “Danube and Cossack all got exposed to an airborne version. It’s already starting to show.”

“Confine all alphas and omegas in separate rooms, _ now_,” Yassen orders, expression tight. “Orion, you have command until this is over.”

Sagitta look to Alex as Yassen closes the door to his designated room. Mace is already moving his team around.

“Sagitta, help them out,” Alex decides, “Mace, you’ve got extra hands. Sagitta and Danube betas, reconvene back here in five so we can adjust our plans.”

Affirmatives ring out and his men get moving.

Five minutes later, they’re all in the safehouse living room. Turns out Mace is the only beta on Danube.

“We’ll let them ride this out,” Alex says to start, “It would have been ideal to move out of the area immediately, but we can afford to wait 24 hours. Best to avoid the risk of a suppressant backfire or a bad interaction of suppressant and inducer. Mace, this is your team, what do they need?”

“Lube,” he says, “We’re good for birth control. We’ve already paired off a couple, they’re pack. I’ve got an agreement with another.”

“I don’t mind helping if you need an extra omega,” Jarek volunteers, glancing at Alex for permission. He nods.

“That’d be great,” Mace says, looking relieved, “That leaves two for me, which is much easier to handle.”

“Done, then,” Alex agrees, “Marcus, please arrange for supplies. I’ll report in and start arranging for clean up.”

Mace puts up a hand, “Sir, does Cossack have his own arrangements?”

“And for that matter,” Shale jumps in, “Is he likely to kill us all in a territory rage? Should we move the others?”

Alex glances at them. “No, he won’t, he’s got plenty more control than that. I’ll be taking care of him. Command can go to Marcus while I’m busy.”

“Orion. Please excuse the questions. Aren’t you unpresented?” Marcus holds his ground as Alex turns to look at him. Alex isn’t quite sure what’s bothering his team, but Marcus’ face is doing something complicated.

“Yes,” he says, “But I’ve spent heats with Yassen before, so I know he’s not going to hurt me. And we all know it’s better not to spend drug-induced heats alone.”

There’s a long pause. Marcus’ complicated face spreads to the rest of Sagitta.

“Then we’ll make sure you have a portion of the lube, and we’ll pick up condoms as well,” Adams says, carefully neutral, “Will you require any toys, sir?”

Oh. Alex feels his face burn. He should have expected the assumption. “No, that’s not… uh. That’s quite fine, thank you.”

His team doesn’t say anything, doesn’t move. Alex resists the urge to smack his palm over his eyes and weighs his options. Either he tells them the truth, or they go on assuming he and Yassen had sex, which is disgusting. More importantly, they’ll see how much lube and condoms Alex didn’t use, and then he’ll have to sit through a safe sex medic lecture, probably both from Adams and Mace. If he’s unlucky, they won’t time it together and he’ll have to sit through it twice.

He’s never told anyone about him and Yassen, and Yassen never made it known either. Alex was already a target enough without being Yassen’s packmate. But Sagitta is already his favoured team, and Yassen seemed amenable to having Danube as security on a permanent basis. They’d have to know eventually.

“He usually likes to nest me,” Alex admits in defeat. There’s another long pause and their faces go from complicated to completely blank. Alex is well aware they’re trying not to smile.

“Yeah, go ahead, you can laugh,” he grumbles as the team chuckles, “Just don’t coo, and definitely don’t laugh to Yassen’s face.”

Shale is still smiling as he gets to his feet and claps Alex on the shoulder. “No worries, sir, none of us are that eager to die.”

* * *

Jack Starbright, to Yassen's immense surprise, has a pack bond with Alex Rider. This close to each other, they can both feel the thrum of an extended pack bond looping through Alex. It explains a good deal about Alex’s response to Kurst’s test. Reckless action and attachment aside, Starbright’s pack bond means Alex is likely completely incapable of harming her. Alex is young enough and their relationship parental enough that his instincts would consider Starbright as one of his important defences. It takes a lot to kill when you feel like you’d be shooting yourself at the same time, and it goes against everything Yassen has drilled into Alex. _ Survival above all else_.

Starbright does not like him. Most civilians don’t, but for Starbright, it’s not just because of violence from his hands. The moment Alex introduces them, she draws herself up into an alpha challenge over her cub. He doesn’t back down, an omega’s answering challenge to her claim over a child she can’t protect. She tries to punch him. He does not let her.

Alex sits on the couch projecting _ ::anxiety:: _ at both of them. It’s understandable.

Starbright is intelligent and sensible for a civilian. He provides her with facts and cold hard logic, the way he had with Alex, and he doesn’t coddle her. She rages and grieves, but she accepts the truth well enough. They send Alex to rest. He needs it, and they don’t need an audience for the rest of this.

“I’m angry,” Starbright says quietly, “Because you’re right. This was probably his best option. But I don’t like this.”

“That was never a requirement,” Yassen says. It never has been for Alex, and it never will be for her anymore.

“And again, you’re right,” she says, sitting down on the couch, sighing, “We need to talk about pack.”

“Yes,” he agrees. She’s inconvenient. She’s a threat to Orion because Alex cannot be Orion around her. Yassen wants to know if she’ll be a threat to the survival of Alex Rider as well. “I assume no one knew about this, given MI6 and the CIA never tried to make you track him.”

“No one knew. I always suspected Alex hadn’t figured it out,” she confirms, “It formed slowly when he was young. I thought it was weird he’d be so attached to a housekeeper, but I found out - Ian never had one with him.”

Yassen pauses. There are many things he already thinks of Ian Rider, not many of them good. This is just another to add to the list. Starbright laughs bitterly.

“Alex told me SCORPIA has psychologists, and that they said… well, the long and short of it, it sounds like he has a lot of symptoms of being bond starved. So there I was, and now here you are,” she says, “I hate what you’ve done, but I _ am _ grateful he has you. You care about him, in your own weird twisted assassin way. You want him to survive. So do I.”

Some of SCORPIA, like Kurst and Chase, had thought Yassen training Alex was some long-game opportunistic method of revenge against Hunter for betraying them all. Most understood their relationship to be purely practical - an apprentice with a reputation deadly enough to protect him when he retired, or a custom-trained second. Any concern for Alex’s wellbeing was thought of as maintenance of valuable asset. Dr. Three came close to pinpointing their actual relationship, but Starbright could _ ::feel:: _ exactly what lay between them.

“Thank you,” Yassen accepts, calculating. Starbright is adapting quickly. Trying to make peace - if not alliances - with her extended pack is a smart move. “Have you considered dissolving your bond with him? It would open more options for your future plans.”

Starbright squares her shoulders, and looks him dead in the eye. It looks like Alex’s stubbornness wasn’t just genetic after all. “I’m not going to. I understand that I’m a vulnerability, but I can’t leave anyways, and we both know it’s much healthier for teenagers to have multiple bonds.”

“You underestimate how much of a vulnerability,” Yassen says, “Anonymity was your protection before, when no one knew you were his pack. Now, I know. Dr. Three will certainly discern it from your interactions. Alex already has troubles with attachment. He will not be able to let you go, even to save his own life.”

“I’d like to think I’m flexible on most other things, but this, I’m not going to budge on. Alex was so bond starved, he was vulnerable to bonding for even a bit of positive attention. Look at what happened with you,” she says, unyielding. There’s no poison in her voice. “With two, he’s less likely to bond to someone you find inadvisable. And if I’m holding his only other pack bond, at least you know who I am, where I am, and what I can do. If Alex can’t choose to save his life over mine, you can easily make that decision for him.”

Control. She’s offering him control. Stability for Alex until he grew older, and control for him. Yassen can see the echoes of her defiance in Alex. Starbright is older, more sure of what she wants, less experienced with her negotiations, but just as sharp and determined and adaptable. This is a woman whose importance to Alex rivals his own. She’s one of the driving reasons Alex always tried to come home intact from his MI6 missions. The chances that her influence can be redirected to ensure Alex continues to survive are better than he hoped for. Yassen smiles. Starbright refuses to flinch.

“An interesting perspective. You’re not incorrect,” he says, standing, “Have your talk with Dr. Three. Once your plans are confirmed, we will revisit this topic.”

* * *

“Who thought it would be a good idea to let the boss to spawn,” Marcus mutters under his breath. It’s not really a question. Sagitta all know Alex’s mate is as terrifying as hell, even halfway across the globe and distracted by business. Alex himself is bouncing his wailing baby on his shoulder, tiredly singing a lullaby. It’s been 20 minutes of the baby crying, and Marcus already has a headache. This is really Tom's job now, but the lucky bastard is currently in charge of security for Alex's mate. “I’m getting too old for this.”

“At least when Danube gets here, we can rotate out of hearing range. Shouldn’t be too long now, they said they’re onboard the ship already,” Shale offers. He glances at his phone when it buzzes. “And speak of the devil.”

Marcus catches Alex’s attention to deliver the news, then goes to open the door for Danube's delivery of one Yassen Gregorovich and one Jack Starbright.

“Boss is trying to get the baby to sleep,” he warns before letting them in.

“Thanks,” Starbright says to him, and Gregorovich nods as he shows them into the living room. Fortunately, the baby is now snuffling into Alex’s shoulder, half crying, half asleep. Starbright hugs him, careful not to jostle the baby.

“Looks like you have things well in hand,” she whispers, eyes bright, “Introduce us later.”

“Sure,” he whispers back, glancing at Gregorovich with a smile. “Baby’s gotta know Grandma and Grandpa too.”

“Shouldn’t I be auntie,” Starbright hisses, eyes narrowed. Marcus notices how she doesn’t bother to deny that Gregorovich is a grandpa. Gregorovich notices too, if the raised eyebrow says anything. Alex just gives a huffing laugh.

It’s a good half hour before the boss concedes to the title of aunt for Starbright and pack leader for Gregorovich. He’s a little shit like that sometimes, but at least Sagitta is never bored.

**Author's Note:**

> EDIT: Sooooo I was rereading DDBS and I screwed up combat team names. Adams is Sagitta's 2IC - it's Aranda that's a medic. Also, Mace is a Sagitta member, whoops. Let's just pretend I put Hill there.


End file.
